Le commerce interrégional des services : le rôle des relations intra-firme et des facteurs organisationnels

Interregional and international trade in services are in part composed of intra-firm transactions, which in general are difficult to quantify. Using original survey data for a Quebec region, the author attemps to measure intra-firm transactions for a set of twenty-four business services, comparing them with analogous market transactions. Clear differences are found between the types of services which are traded internally, among establishments of the same firm, and those which are traded on the market among non-affiliated establishments. The differences are in large part linked to the "tradeable" nature of the service and to its role within the firm. Those services with the highest propensity to be traded internally are also in general those which require the most specialized skills (finance, insurance, computer services, publicity, plus various consulting services) and those whose over-all growth rate in the economy has been most rapid. As such, we should expect corporate links to play an increasingly important role in explaining international and interregional service transactions. Comme pour le commerce des biens, le commerce interrégional des services se compose en partie de transactions intra-firme, difficilement mesurables. Par une analyse service par service, l’auteur cherche à caractériser ce commerce intra-firme, en s’appuyant sur des données d’enquête pour une région du Québec. Suite à une discussion des problèmes de mesure, l’auteur identifie, dans un premier temps, les services qui font l’objet de transactions intra-firme, en les distinguant des services davantage tournés vers les échanges inter-firmes. Il analyse, dans un deuxième temps, la structure des importations régionales de services, par comparaison à celle des achats locaux, en soulignant à la fois le rôle des relations intra-firme et celui des conditions particulières de production des services aux entreprises. L’analyse lui permettra, finalement, de tirer quelques perspectives d’évolution du commerce interrégional des services.